Related attachment(s)

Links

Just hours before the official start of this new season, head coach Bob Hartley took a not-so-subtle swipe at the Calgary Flames of old.

Responding after Thursday’s morning skate in Washington to a curiously-timed question about optional spins on game day, Hartley seized an opportunity to get something off his chest.

“There are no more options,” Hartley said. “The options when to work and when not to work are over. Last year, I did this with this group and, as a coaching staff, we felt it was a disaster. Some guys didn’t use it with common sense.

“We’re paid to play and we’re paid to love this game. And if you don’t love this game, maybe we don’t want you on this team.”

You don’t need a PHD in hockey to figure out Hartley’s blueprint for success for this rebuilding bunch.

They were frustrated about frittering away a three-goal lead in Thursday’s 5-4 shootout loss in Washington but, with the momentum the Capitals had on their side after two periods and with the firepower on their roster, just getting the game to overtime was no small feat.

Twenty-four hours later in Columbus, the Flames seldom showed any sign of let-up in a gutsy 4-3 victory over the well-rested Blue Jackets.

Read the reports out of both cities, and the common theme is the opposition was impressed by their work ethic.

“We talked about it before the year — we don’t have any quote-unquote superstar guys on our team, so we need to bring the work boots every game,” said Flames winger TJ Galiardi. “You can tell even in the few times when we let up or weren’t working our hardest or had mental lapses, that’s when other teams jumped all over us. That’s how this league works.”

Make no mistake, hard work won’t be enough for a victory every night.

On Thursday in D.C., the difference in the game was Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin, whose eye-popping stat-line against the Flames included two tallies on 11 shots, one assist, five hits and the winning goal in the shootout.

The Flames don’t have a one-man wrecking crew like Ovechkin. In fact, with Michael Cammalleri (hand) and Matt Stajan (leg) both injured, half of the forwards who were in Calgary’s lineup in Columbus — youngsters Sven Baertschi, Lance Bouma, Joe Colborne, Sean Monahan and Ben Street and tough-guy Brian McGrattan — have combined for fewer goals in their NHL careers (18) than Ovechkin had in the lockout-shortened season (32).

The Flames aren’t the NHL’s most talented outfit, but holy smokes — give me a break, it’s a PG-13 publication — do they work hard.

Three points so far is proof of it.

“To see results, that’s the easiest motivation that we can get,” Hartley said after Friday’s hard-fought victory over the Blue Jackets.

“We see that our conditioning is paying off. We see that our execution is paying off. And suddenly, it’s easier to learn, it’s easier to listen, it’s easier to show up the next day at work.

Calgary Flames a work in progress

Flames early-season success no secret

Just hours before the official start of this new season, head coach Bob Hartley took a not-so-subtle swipe at the Calgary Flames of old.

Responding after Thursday’s morning skate in Washington to a curiously-timed question about optional spins on game day, Hartley seized an opportunity to get something off his chest.

“There are no more options,” Hartley said. “The options when to work and when not to work are over. Last year, I did this with this group and, as a coaching staff, we felt it was a disaster. Some guys didn’t use it with common sense.

“We’re paid to play and we’re paid to love this game. And if you don’t love this game, maybe we don’t want you on this team.”

You don’t need a PHD in hockey to figure out Hartley’s blueprint for success for this rebuilding bunch.

It’s opening night of the new campaign and a 19-year-old kid has just racked up four goals in an astonishing introduction for the Toronto Maple Leafs, becoming the first sharpshooter in the NHL’s modern era to one-up a hat-trick in his first skate at hockey’s highest level.